Full steam ahead for 16-day British Airways strike

THE 16-DAY strike planned
by British Airways’ cabin
crew from Saturday,
July 1, to Sunday, July 16, has
been confirmed. The strike
comes as a result of a longrunning
pay dispute.
This follows a catastrophic
IT outage at the airline in
late May that left nearly
75 000 passengers
stranded. However, SA travel
agents report that consumer
confidence in the airline
remains relatively high.
Ben Langner, md of CWT,
says clients still view BA
as a reliable, high-quality
airline despite the recent
operational challenges.
“Reaction to the current
strike threat is muted, with
most point-to-point travellers
still opting to fly BA, while
some travellers with journeys
requiring connecting flights
asking to switch to other
airlines.”
Jonathan Gerber, director
of TAG, says, however, that
there is no doubt that the IT
meltdown hurt the airline.
“I also think the
subsequent luggage delays
and lack of a definitive
answer from BA in terms
of exactly what caused
the meltdown and what
plans are in place to
avoid it in future, raised a
few eyebrows.” He says,
however, that the travelling
public have short memories
and that if the price is right
they will still book BA.
But, Rachael Penaluna,
business manager of Sure
Maritime Travel, says strikes
have negative impacts
on consumer and agent
confidence: “An example
is Air France. We deter
clients from flying Air
France, especially close
to August and September,
as that is traditionally its
‘strike’ season. We cannot
guarantee that flights out
of South Africa will not be
affected and the solution is
to book another airline.”
Rachael says most of her
clients are preferring to book
another carrier than take a
chance on British Airways for
the coming weeks.
Spokesperson for the
airline in SA, Stephen
Forbes, told TNW that
BA’s priority was to fly
all customers to their
destinations. “We are
looking at a range of options
and are speaking with a
number of airlines. We will
publish our contingency
plans in the coming days
for customers who have
bookings on the days of
threatened industrial action.”
One of the options being
looked at is wet-leasing nine
Qatari-registered Airbuses for
the duration of the two-week
strike. An application filed
with the UK Civil Aviation
Authority indicates that
contracts may be extended
beyond July 16 for a
maximum of two months.
However Unite, the British
union that represents the
cabin crew who will strike,
has called on the CAA to
turn down the application.
Unite warned that the
lease would be in breach
of aviation law if BA was
unable to demonstrate that
an equivalent standard of
safety would be applied to
the leased aircraft.
Unite national officer, Oliver
Richardson said: “British
Airways should be focusing
its energies on resolving the
dispute instead of seeking
to lease aircraft from half
way around the globe at an
estimated cost of £5 000
(R83 218) per hour. It is
an entirely avoidable waste
of resources on behalf of
British Airways and would
not have happened, if the
bosses had accepted our
compromise offer.